124 
PARK AND CEMETERY 
CEMETERY NOTES. 
In the Punic cemeteries of old Carthage, Father Delattre 
has already examined 125 tombs. He has found a painted terra- 
cotta mask, with oval face, shrirt side whiskers and a close-shaven 
chin, and bronze rings in the ears; and also a disk of terra, 
cotta with a warrior on horseback in relief upon it, under the 
horse a running dog, and above the figure a lotus flower and a 
crescent moon. 
* * * 
The prospects of a coffin trust at time of writing are not as. 
sured, discounts and division of territory appears to have been 
the stumbling block, and it will be a difficult thing to get over. 
The same questions have prevented other combinations against 
wholesome competition, and this combination will have many 
breakers ahead in the tendency to reform in funerals and funeral 
appurtenances. 
* * * 
An Iowa exchange mentions one of its towns as having: 
“Laid out a new cemetery and is offering lots at 20 per cent dis- 
count until Oct. i It adds that “an option on a corner lot in 
an * * * * graveyard would be better than pools on a ball game 
in a contest betw'een the * * * * church nines.” This is business 
with a vengeance; real estate boom methods to dispose of 
realty in “God’s Acre.” 
•» » » 
As a means of preserving records the inscriptions on the 
tombstones of the old Bridge Street burying ground, Gloucester, 
Mass., have been carefully copied. The stone recording the 
earliest death is that to Rachel Baker, dated 171 1, but one to 
Lieut. James Baker, who died in 1721, age 80 years, may have 
been erected earlier, its appearance indicating more age. For 
historical purposes, in connection with either local or 
state records, an accurate copy of the writing on old tombs 
should be preserved, and is likely to form a source of valuable 
information. 
* * * 
A curiosity of Greenville, Hudson, Co., N, ]., is the little 
cemetery on Linden ave., back of Bamber Hall. The entrance 
to it is by a six foot gateway to an alley by the side of the hall 
and strangers would pass it by unnoticed. The plot of ground is 
about 50 feet square, situated at the rear of the building, which 
was orginally left to the trustees of the church as a burying place 
for paupers, but it has been used for wealthier people. It appears 
to be full of graves and interments still continue, but it is poor- 
ly kept. The trustees of the church sold the land upon which 
Bamber Hall stands, and the present proprietor wants a license 
to run a billiard room and bowling alley, which is opposed by 
relations of friends buried in the rear. 
* * * 
The mausoleum erected at Winchester, Mass., wherein lie 
the remains of Dr. Francis B. Hiller, is a costly piece of 
mortuary architecture, the total expenditure of which having 
been nearly $500,000. The carved casket containing the body 
cost alone $50,000, and a similar one is being placed at its side 
for Mrs. Hiller, under whose directions the tomb has been built. 
The building contains some 6,000 square feet, and its height is 
75 feet. It has a dome resembling that of an Oriental mosque, 
the front being of Gothic design. Wrought iron and brass have 
been used most lavishly for the gates and other portions of the 
buildings, while the lamp which illuminates the post of the 
watchman, cost some $10,000. The knobs to the outer doors 
are of solid gold, and the medallions on the caskets each contain 
some $500 worth of gold. 
* * * 
Prior to 1827 there was no public biarial place at or near 
Memphis, Tenn., but the following year eleven acres was clim- 
ated which became known as Winchester Cemetery, and burials 
were continued therein until 1874, when the city limits overran 
the plot. In 1852 Elmwood Cemetery Association was organiz- 
ed, the Walker avenue tract bought and the cemetery incorpor- 
ated by act of legislature. The name Elmwood was selected by 
lot and is not descriptive of the trees on the place. It contains 
eighty acres and has a section set apart for negroes. The first 
interment took place in 1853. The total number of interments 
exceed 29,300, of which some 900 are buried in the confederate 
lot and over 6,460 are negroes. From March i, 1894 to March 
I, 1895, 481 bodies were buried. In the past three years more 
money has been expended on improvements than during any 
similar period of its existence. 
* -sc -sc 
The following story is told of Supt. Floyd, of Evergreen 
Cemetery, Deering, Maine, who will probably second the elder 
Weller’s injunction, “Beware of vidders.” At any rate it deeply 
concerns cemetery financial methods. A certain Portland citiz- 
en died and his widow purchased a lot in the cemetery, but did not 
pay for it. Mr. Floyd told her that it was contrary to the rules to 
bury a person in the cemetery until the lot was paid for. This 
made no difference to the widow. She went ahead with the 
funeral, had her husband’s body carried to the cemetery and the 
coffin left on top of the lot, where of course no grave had been 
dug. Then she went to Mr. Floyd, and with tears running 
down her cheeks, said: “Mr. Floyd, there is Mr. S , you 
can bury him or leave him on top just as you’ve a mind to,” and 
away she went. Of course Mr. Floyd had to bury the aban- 
doned coffin. There was no way out of it. 
* * * 
In a public speech, the late Robert C. Winthrop, of Boston, 
thus spoke of the New England graveyard: The graveyard it- 
self should be kept and cared for as the very apple of the city’s 
eye. It should be made an ornament to the city, and not left as 
an eyesore. It should be preserved as by a solemn consecration, 
for all generations. It might well be addrned and inscribed, so 
as to attract the observation of our children and of strangers, 
and might even claim some recognition on a Decoration Day, 
or on the anniversary of the settlement of the city. At all 
events, it should be preserved as long as the city has an 
anniversary to celebrate, or a name to live in the annals of our 
land. The first fathers of New England, who sleep in these 
graves were compatriots and comtemporaries of Shakespeare, and 
though they built no lofty rhymes, or immortal dramas, they 
founded a city and a commonwealth, which will hardly be 
disposed to bring upon themselves the reproach of having 
allowed such graves to be desecrated.” 
* * -X- 
An eastern inventor has devised a scheme to prevent burial 
alive, which he calls a grave signal. It consists mainly of a tube 
fitted with air valves, which passes through the earth into the 
coffin. It is so delicately adjusted that the least motion of the 
body inside the coffin affects these valves and motion is com- 
municated to a register above the ground. It may not be gen- 
erally remembered that in a certain “Gods Acre” in Munich, a 
test is always applied to every body brought there for burial, and 
a building is devoted to the purpose. The bodies are raised to 
a reclining position in their coffins, and upon the thumb a kind 
of a thimble is placed which is connected by a wire carried 
through the ceiling to apparatus in a room above, which gives a 
signal should any movement occur below. Some years ago it 
used to be said that no twitch of the wire had been noted for 
fifty years, and that in consequence a sentiment was growing 
that the proceeding was unnecessary and obnoxious. But it is 
a municipal law. All visitors on the approach of sickness give 
Munich a wide berth. 
